A SERVICE of remembrance will be held at Oxford Town Hall next weekend to mark 100 years to the day since the start of the Battle of the Somme.

The event on Friday, July 1 will mark the contribution of the 4th Battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in one of the bloodiest battles of the First World War, during which the territorial battalion with headquarters of Oxford suffered many casualties.

The Oxford Branch of the Royal Green Jackets Association in conjunction with Oxford City Council are holding the service, which is open to the occasion.

Lord Mayor of Oxford Mohammed Altaf-Khan will be joined by The Reverend Canon Brian Mountford MBE, veterans, civic and others wanting to pay tribute.

The ceremony will begin with an address at 10.45am followed by a prayer and a hymn, during which a wreath will be laid, and then a two-minute silence to signal the start of the battle and honour the fall of local riflemen and others. Attendees must gather at the Town Hall in St Aldates by 10.30am.

Major (retd) Terry Roper MBE TD, of the Royal Green Jackets, said: “It is important that the people of Oxford especially, the young, understand the sacrifices the men of the County Regiment made to ensure the freedoms we have today, the bravery, the terrible conditions and the horrendous casualties on both side in this Battle and in the bloodiest of Wars will be remembered here today."